Only 10% of people around the world who need organ transplants actually end up receiving them, due to a shortage of suitable donors and extremely complicated logistics. Some scientists have therefore been looking for more radical solutions: transplanting genetically-modified pig organs into humans. The field has seen rapid progress in recent years—will such procedures become mainstream?
Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Guests: The Economist’s Emilie Steinmark; Leonardo Riella of Massachusetts General Hospital; and Tim Andrews, one of Dr Riella’s patients.
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